WALES' private sector continued to expand strongly in December, almost equalling record growth figures seen in November.

The Purchasing Managers' Index from the Royal Bank of Scotland showed that the headline PMI Business Activity Index for Wales remained above the crucial 50.0 no-change mark in December, signalling further growth of activity amongst Welsh private sector companies.

Growth of activity remained significant, with the index seeing only a marginal fall to a level of 56.8, down from November's survey high of 57.2.

The figures suggest that the rate of expansion has eased, and is below the UK average for a sixth successive month.

New business expanded for a ninth consecutive month, also at a rate only marginally lower than November's survey record high. Growth of business activity and incoming new work was widely reported to reflect a further improvement in general operating conditions throughout the UK and in the wider global context during December.

Rising workloads encouraged a number of companies to raise staffing levels at their units during December. Moreover, the net increase in employment was the greatest in the three-year series history.

But despite increased capacity, backlogs of outstanding work rose for a third successive month.

Royal Bank of Scotland senior economist Matthew Smith said: "With rising workloads set to exert further pressure on capacity, the trend of increasing employment is likely to be maintained."